UPDATE: 6 intoxicated students hospitalized

IU Police Department officers ordinarily issue more citations and deal with an increased number of dangerously intoxicated students during Welcome Week, but Wednesday night was unlike any IUPD officers had seen in a long time. \nOf seven alcohol-related arrests, six students were transported to Bloomington Hospital for dangerous levels of intoxication. Five of the cited students were freshmen.\n"Having this many people transported to the hospital is actually higher than we have ever had in such a short period of time," said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger. "I can't even recall a football weekend where we have had six in one night."\nAll six students were treated and released from Bloomington Hospital. Police cited each student with alcohol-related charges.\nAmong the students taken to the hospital were: a male student who was found by an IU police officer "asleep" in the Institute for Social Research wearing only his boxer shorts; an 18-year-old female student who was taken by ambulance after she vomited in the lobby of Eigenmann Hall; and a male student who police found unconscious in the front lawn of Phi Mu sorority. Additionally, a 19-year-old male student was arrested and hospitalized after stumbling through traffic on Indiana Avenue. Officers also responded to calls of dangerously intoxicated students at Foster-Gresham Dining Hall, McNutt Quad and Alpha Omicron Pi sorority.\n"It's the first day," Minger said. "I suspect that the overwhelming majority were kids that had never been away from home before. At least these people will realize that the University takes a dim view of this kind of behavior, and it puts their academic future in jeopardy."\nDespite the rise in illegal drinking activity that typically accompanies Welcome Week, Minger said the IUPD lacks the staff and equipment to adjust its enforcement tactics. Additionally, most alcohol arrest cases result from subjects drawing attention to themselves, he said.\n"It wasn't that we were patrolling inside their dorm rooms or even their hallways," Minger said. "It was because they put themselves, or someone else, at risk."\nMinger said IUPD works with other campus groups to curtail dangerous student-drinking habits. He said its impact is limited, however.\n"Our role often becomes one that's reactive," he said. "There's only so much you can do, and only so many people that will listen."\nMinger said he is unsure whether Wednesday night's activity represents a trend but said only time will tell.\n"It's not even the weekend yet," he said. "It's only Wednesday"